June 28, 2023 • 48 mins
Share your thoughts & ideas! ✨
Ever wondered about the secret language between you and your pet? Today, we unravel the mystery of animal communication with our special guest, Karoline from Dog Mom Mentality. As she shares her journey with her dog, Layla, we explore the powerful transformation of their bond. From the initial thrill of owning a puppy to the trials of managing a reactive dog, Karoline's story mirrors the experiences of many pet owners.
Karoline believes that animal communication can deepen our connection with our pets and even serve as a tool for self-discovery. During our conversation, she shares her "aha" moments from the communication sessions, bringing to light the feedback loop in their relationship and the unexpected impact of her own anxiety. She also introduces us to the concept of "soul contracts" with our pets, and how they can be our mirrors and mentors, teaching us critical life lessons.
Our chat with Karoline is not just about her personal journey; it's also about empowering you, the pet guardian. Stepping into the realms of animal communication takes bravery, as there are times when you may hear things that might be hard to accept. But Karoline emphasizes the importance of being open and authentic in these conversations. She also shares resources for pet owners who may be feeling overwhelmed, including her unique journaling tool. So, tune in and take the first step towards building a deeper relationship with your pet.
Connect with Karoline, Layla & Dog Mom Mentality:
https://dogmommentality.com
Get your own Dog Mom Mentality journal, shirt and stickers: https://dogmommentality.com/collections
Listen to the DMM podcast: https://dogmommentality.com/pages/podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shannon Cutts (00:12):
Welcome to Let's Talk to Animals, the podcast
about inner speciescommunication.
My name is Shannon Cutts.
I am your friendly neighborhoodhostess, along with Miss Petal
Cutts, my four-month-oldcockatiel.
We are here today chattingabout animal communication with
today's guest, Karoline from DogMom Mentality, with Leila, aka
(00:35):
Princess Beauty, And we willexplain a little bit more about
that.
We're here talking about howanimal communication can
complement other growthopportunities and how it can fit
in with the bigger picture ofbeing a pet guardian or a dog
mom or a cat dad or wherever youfind yourself in your
(00:58):
relationships with your owncompanion animals, rescue
animals, animals you work with.
Welcome, Karoline.
Karoline Edmonds (01:06):
Thank you, I am very excited to be here.
We've had our actual sessioncommunication session.
You've been on my podcastrecording and now I'm here, So
we've talked to each other a lothere recently.
Shannon Cutts (01:20):
And it's been so much fun and I'm learning so
much.
I highly recommend heading overand adding Dog Mom Mentality to
your playlist if you haven'talready.
It's an amazing podcast with somany resources and so much
real-world experience,especially if you have a dog who
is in the least bitunresponsive to play or reactive
(01:42):
or anxious in any way.
You can just get so much support.
That's what we've really beenfocusing for the last several
episodes here on Let's Talk toAnimals.
Is that feeling of compendingdoom or, at the very least,
isolation or personal shame,that you feel like, oh, my pet's
broken and it's like let's talk?
Karoline Edmonds (02:03):
about this Right?
Yeah, you're not alone.
Let's just say that you'redefinitely not alone.
And that's actually how mypodcast got started.
Because Layla was a difficult,reactive dog And at the time I
felt very alone, isolated,misunderstood.
(02:24):
I felt like I couldn't go anddo my normal things.
I just wanted to be a normaldog owner walking their dog, but
it just wasn't like that Andfound this community on
Instagram at the time prettysmall but very mighty, you know.
I finally felt like I was beingheard And I started the podcast
because I was like I want toshow people the behind the
(02:44):
scenes of reactive dog ownersand all of the hard work, the
emotional labor, the actualphysical training that we do
with our dog that other peoplemight not realize or might not
understand why we do it the waythat we do.
And I kind of got a bunch ofdifferent people from various
aspects of aggression or fear orseparation, anxiety, just kind
(03:08):
of like a wide array and startedtalking to them, eventually
turned it into like this fullblown podcast that now covers
any way that your dog canemotionally affect you.
Shannon Cutts (03:19):
So it doesn't necessarily have to be reactive
dog stories anymore, but that'sstill a really big piece of it
And it's also interestingbecause our pets can be and you
and I talked about this in oursession with Layla, but our pets
can be very much some of theclosest mirrors in our lives,
holding a rather comfortablemirror up to show us some things
(03:42):
that may be going on within usthat we may not either be aware
of, or we may not think they'reproblematic, or we may have just
given up on those aspects ofourselves.
And they can also be some ofour most powerful mentors and
teachers, through modelingbehaviors or just a ways of
being in this world that we canlearn a ton from.
(04:06):
You and I talked when we werechatting about what Layla had to
say.
We were talking about soulcontracts and how there really
isn't any accidents.
So if you're listening to thisor you're watching this today
and you're going, mind spoken,or how did I end up like this?
Or it's just not matching upwith my vision, one thing I
would really encourage you toconsider, other than going over
(04:26):
to dogmommentalitycom, the otherthing I would invite you to
consider, is that if you canimagine it, you can create it,
and so it's already out there.
Consider that this is your life, knocking and inviting you out
to play, maybe literally,definitely metaphorically,
inviting you out to grow, tolearn, to evolve, to transform,
and that you and the particularanimal you're keeping company
(04:49):
with, whether for a reason, aseason or a lifetime, so to
speak, is the perfect partnerfor that, absolutely the perfect
partner.
I love Don Miguel Rue as thefour agreements, and one of the
four is don't take anythingpersonally.
And so your dog has come intoyour life, or your cat, or your
parrot, or your turtle orwhoever it is.
They've come into your life asa part of their look at her.
(05:13):
You're watching the video.
She's got the four agreementsright there.
Don Miguel Rue has amazing,amazing, amazing.
I follow him on Instagram.
I've known about him through amentor of mine for many years.
Obviously, Karoline, you do aswell, so highly recommended
homework for you today, orplaywork, if you will just try.
On these four agreements forsize.
(05:34):
We can make the same mistakewith our kids anyone with whom
we regularly encounter andengage in relationship with that
.
We take their behavior or theirstuff personally, as if it's a
reflection of us And in reality,your animal came to you already
fully engaged in their ownstory and their own stuff.
(05:54):
So, Karoline, i didn't reallyprep you for this but I'm sorry
about that.
But I always love to invite ourguests to take us back to the
beginning, because I have cometo know you and absolutely
treasure who you are and yourstory and Layla's story.
But our listeners, they, maynot know you and Layla at all
yet.
So can you just share a littlebit about how you got to where
(06:17):
you are today and also how youbecame a little curious in
adding animal communication toLayla's toolkit and your toolkit
together?
So just take and rewind us alittle.
Karoline Edmonds (06:29):
Yeah.
So I love talking about thisand I kind of call it my dog mom
phases because I think about,like the different stages that
we went through.
So my husband actually gotLayla himself and it was kind of
like a hey, i want to get a dogwe're dating, so like it's
going to be our dog, but likehey, i'll take care of it, i'll
(06:51):
do all the potty training, i'lldo the feeding, all of that.
I was like, okay, great, at thetime we were in college and it
was February of 2020.
So we were in our senior yearof college and we lived
separately.
So the remaining college months, which would have been about
four at the time, she was goingto stay with him, she was going
(07:11):
to be his dog, all good anddandy.
Well, the next month, thepandemic hit And so we all moved
from college to my mom's houseand me, my husband, my boyfriend
at the time and Layla startedto live there And I started to
grow kind of a connection withher.
(07:32):
But it was a lot of like the I'mthe fun parent kind of thing.
I'm just going to take picturesof her.
She's just like going to belike a cute little asset.
I had no intention on likehaving this big of a
relationship with her.
Growing up I had dogs, but itwas kind of the same, like they
were just there.
I didn't have like a ton ofconnection with them, never
(07:52):
really been like a big animalperson, if you want to know the
truth.
And so at that time she was apuppy.
We were doing like the cute sitshake, like cute tricks, not a
ton of like functional training,especially because the world
was shut down.
So she's going to have a lot ofthe social training that
puppies at that stage normallyget fast forward a little bit
(08:14):
And she's in her like adolescentstage, which is like the eight
months to like eight, ninemonths to like a year ish old,
and that's the time that they'regetting a little bit more rowdy
, right.
And you know, we didn't reallydo much of training.
I she was just kind of thereall day.
We just kind of coexisted.
And my husband started to gofor work trips where he would go
(08:39):
for one to two weeks And Iwould be the one responsible for
Layla.
He was also working at anoffice and I worked from home.
So I started to become moreresponsible for her and you can
blame this on whatever.
But we got to this point wherewe had zero relationship.
I was asking her to do things,i was taking her out and she
(09:00):
wasn't listening to me.
Or I would ask her to get offthe couch and she would just
look at me.
And it eventually got to thispoint that I would describe us
as a step sisters living in thesame house.
So you know, step sisters havelike a really weird dynamic
where it's like a power dynamicand they're like a little bit
(09:20):
like am I allowed to curse?
Shannon Cutts (09:23):
Absolutely Okay.
Karoline Edmonds (09:24):
They're like you know they're like, you know,
they're like maybe a little bitbitchy to each other, like how
stepsisters do, and they're likeI don't want to be here, but
I'm here.
That's kind of how me and Laylawere, quite honestly, that's
the best way that I can describeit.
And so we ended up getting tothis point that, besides in the
house, you know, she was superfearful on walks So we couldn't
(09:45):
really take her out off of ourstreet And she started to have
create aggression, which waskind of the tipping point for us
, because having a dog reacttowards you bark at you, snarl
at you, growl at you, snap atyou That's like a whole
different experience.
It's just like the lowest oflow that you could get.
(10:06):
I like, in terms of likeemotions from a dog owners
perspective, it was awful.
It was awful.
So that was really the tippingpoint.
And the time we were havingthese really hard conversations
of like what do we do?
Do we re-home her?
Do we try training?
Like how much do I want to beinvolved with that in this?
How much can my husband beinvolved with this?
Like, what are we going to do?
So we did a few different, wewent through a few different
(10:29):
trainers and we ended up findinga solution, or not a solution,
but something to work towards,like a hopeful, hopeful thing to
work towards, right, and wewere starting to get something
under our belt to give us alittle bit of confidence.
Like okay, like, maybe we cankeep her, maybe we can work
through this.
I don't know how long it'sgoing to take but, like, all I
want is for my dog to listen tome and to like be able to walk
(10:51):
off of her, off of our streetlike a normal dog.
So that was kind of like thefirst two to three phases of
like us not really even likingeach other, to us being at the
lowest of low because of herreactivity and behavioral issues
.
So then we started reallygetting into training and I
became obsessed with it And it'spart of the perfectionist in me
(11:15):
and the people pleaser that Istarted to take her out and I
didn't want to look like a baddog owner.
I I wanted everything to beprecise, tight, managed, nothing
wrong, so I wouldn't get blamedas the bad dog owner.
It wouldn't be on me.
And a lot of the times I sawher as a reflection of me and my
(11:36):
work And you know I've alwaysbeen a hardworking person but at
the same time, i've always beenvery independent.
I was a, a um, an only childgrowing up, so like I literally
only depended on myself to getwhat I wanted and the outcome of
things, you know, i Idetermined how well it was going
to be, and so for her to be thefirst thing in my life that I
(12:00):
put so much work into but theoutcome wasn't what I expected
just because she's her ownliving, breathing thing was
really really hard on me.
So we were making some progresswith the training, but I was
having a lot of judgment, a lotof shame, a lot of bad, negative
thought patterns, and not onlyabout her but about myself and
(12:21):
about us as a team.
And I eventually got to thispoint that we had come to so
much progress.
but I felt like we had hit aplateau, and that's where I
really discovered um play andit's what made us just kind of
get over that plateau, get overthat hump.
It really started to build thatconnection between us that I
didn't even know that we needed.
(12:42):
Right, i was so, so worriedabout getting us to the point
with training that she couldwalk beside me, not pull, not
bark, not look at another dog,only look at me.
You know all of the like, quote, unquote perfect dog things
that I totally missed out onlike the actual like let's have
fun, let loose, like and beplayful a little bit.
(13:02):
This power of play, which I'mon a big kick right now because
I'm doing this claim reflect 30day challenge to encourage
others to play with their dogand learn more about play.
But throughout all of that,that really got us over the hump
on this connection that we werereally really missing out on,
and I was able to finally catchmy breath a little bit and like
able to like reflect and likelook back on, like everything
(13:25):
that was happening and like bemore aware, to like make changes
in the moment.
And so, from that point on,we're really at this stage now
that, like, we're living thelife that I envisioned, we're
living the life that I hadwanted.
Right, it can only go up fromhere, you know, as long as we
keep putting in like theconsistent maintenance practice
(13:48):
and training.
She just totally exceeds myexpectations every day now and
it's so amazing.
But now you know I have thetime to focus on myself a little
bit more, on other things andlike, yes, she's still a top
priority for me, but whenever Iwas so worried about her
training, i completely lostmyself to that.
(14:09):
It was like my whole identitywas being this reactive dog mom,
like I had to take care of mydog.
And now I'm in this phase whereit's a little bit more chilled
with her, i'm in a very, verygood place, but like I'm able to
focus so much more on myselfand explore other things that I
am besides being a dog mom.
Which kind of leads into yoursecond question, which was you
(14:31):
know, how did I get into thisanimal communication?
So one of the things that I'vebeen exploring in the past year
is this spirituality land, likethis woo woo land, like what's
going on in this.
You know, holistic world,spiritual, and I'm in a
mentorship program right nowthat has to do all about the
spiritual and energetics ofrunning your own business or
(14:55):
being an entrepreneur, and allof the topics in it really,
really interests me And it's allabout taking care of yourself,
because you have to take care ofyourself for your business to
really thrive.
And so in that we reallystarted to dive deeper into
spirituality, holistic health,astrology, intuition, all of
(15:20):
these things And I was likethat's really cool.
And my mentor had mentionedthat she had done a pet
communication session.
It's like that sounds right upmy alley, like let's look into
it.
And I'm all about being moreintentional and anything that
can bring me more awareness,like just sign me up, whether
it's journaling, talking tosomebody else, having them kind
(15:44):
of be a mirror back at me.
You know, that's why I'm doingmy mentorship program being more
intentional and intuitive, withLayla watching her movements,
trying to see, like what's goingon there.
And so I was like sign me upfor animal communication.
So I was shopping around alittle bit and I hadn't really
found anybody that I liked.
(16:04):
And then you popped into myinbox and I was like perfect,
this is such great timing.
And so I decided to book asession with you.
And now here we are And it's socool.
Shannon Cutts (16:14):
You touch on so many important facets of not
only just what is possible.
I mean you literally write herein front of us.
If you're listening or you'rewatching, you just heard the
transformation that is possibleand all of the wonderful perks
that got added along the way.
And in this particular case,you and Layla have already
(16:37):
transitioned through so manyfacets of your shared growth and
evolution together before youadded animal communication to
your toolkit.
In many cases, someone like meis where a frustrated, isolated,
ashamed, anxious or grievingpet parent will start.
In either case, what I'mhearing from you is it added so
(17:00):
much to your relationship, butit wasn't like the solution.
I mean, sometimes it can be,but it's another wonderful
opportunity to check somethingoff your bucket list together
and also have an experience thatwill deepen your appreciation
and just your awareness of thefullness of the other being's
(17:23):
life.
And I love it if you'd shared afew of your aha moments from
your session with Layla, becauseit is so interesting how you
say my identity was wrapped upin Layla's behavior and we were
just focused on pretty much oneaspect of our shared life
together, which was making sureshe did what I said when I said
to do it, and even in situationswhere it was very compelling
(17:48):
for her to want to do somethingdifferent, and kind of
forgetting about all the otherways that you could experience
one another.
And I felt like your sessionwith Layla, that she had a lot
to say and share about herself,and not all of it was a surprise
or was new to you, but it wasextremely affirming and
(18:08):
confirming for you in manyrespects.
So I would love it if you wouldshare a little bit more about
how the session has affected youand impacted how you've
continued to interact with yoursweet soul dog.
Karoline Edmonds (18:21):
Right, yeah, and it's so interesting too,
because if I would have donethis two years ago, where we
were still a little bit in thetrenches, i don't know if I
would have been open tosomething like this, open to
hearing what you had to say.
No, i think one thing about itis that if you're going to do
something like this, you have tohave your heart open to
(18:43):
receiving this information andtaking it in and filtering it a
little bit.
But then the other thing that Iwanted to touch on is whenever
I was so caught up in thebehavioral side of it, making
sure she's the perfect dog quote, unquote some of the perfect
dog owner I just put so muchpressure on us, it was just
(19:04):
constant pressure.
And I think whenever we weretalking about the feedback loop
and the soul contract during oursession, we talked a lot about
how, if my anxiety anddepression increases, her
anxiety increases And if mymental health gets a little bit
(19:24):
better, then hers gets a littlebit better.
It's not really a teeter-totter, right, because if one goes up,
the other one goes up, but it'sdefinitely this feedback loop
right.
And so whenever we were in thisplace that I was doing all the
training, doing all the thingsthat I thought I was supposed to
be doing with her.
It was still so pressure-filledAnd so my anxiety was still
(19:47):
very much heightened, and Ithink that's one of the reasons
that we had a plateau, that weweren't able to get over the
hump at some point, and itwasn't really until I let loose
a little bit and was like I'mgoing to try something that I
don't even know what it's goingto do, but I'm going to try to
keep playing with her.
It sounds so simple to actuallymove around with her and be
(20:08):
goofy and silly.
It literally does, it releasesendorphins and everything right.
But it was so healing for metoo, i think, just to be goofy
with her Because, like I said, iwas an only child growing up
And so I played by myself a lotAnd I didn't have a little
brother or sister to wrestlewith, and now I'm out here
wrestling and rolling around onthe grass with Layla, so it's
(20:30):
like a very healing aspect of itas well for me.
Some of the other aha moments orreally just affirming moments
that we had during our sessionwas she had the one thing that
she said that I was like I don'teven know how anybody would
know that.
Like that's wild.
It was absolutely crazy.
It's kind of personal so I'mnot going to say it, but I just
(20:51):
was like I can't believe thatcame up and it was so exact and
direct, with the sole contractand the anxiety going up and her
anxiety going up.
That was very affirming.
I very much had awareness ofthat.
But then to hear it coming fromyou, from her, it just was like
(21:12):
OK, this is the truth, this ishow she interprets it as well.
Some of the other things thatreally got me were the fact that
she said that she loves being acanine ambassador.
She loves knowing that she ispart of the bigger mission And I
have this mission with Dog Mommentality which is to increase
(21:36):
emotional intelligence, empathyand awareness and destigmatized
mental health through the lensof dog ownership.
And the fact that she knowsthat she's a part of that was
really really, really cool to meand it made my heart really
really happy.
Shannon Cutts (21:50):
Let's see some of the other things And I want to
pause there for just a moment,because that's the kind of airy
fairy thing where we just thatgives animal communication its
woo woo reputation.
And in many ways gives folkswho are on the fence, are
actively skeptical of reason,not to even give it a seat at
(22:11):
the table, not to even give achance.
And yet when I shared that, youtold me how much she loves the
camera She does.
Karoline Edmonds (22:18):
It's like, whenever you said that I was
like, you know, i never reallyconsidered that, but like she
definitely does love the camera.
She loves performing.
You know what I mean.
She loves being right therewith me And you know what.
It might be because I havetreats, but like it might just
be because she knows she's partof something bigger.
Shannon Cutts (22:36):
Something that provides any kind of affirmation
and opens up even more playful,more inventive, more creative
lens for you both.
It's like if it sings to yourheart and you see any evidence
anywhere in your life thatthere's a shared resonance.
And I think we talked a littlebit about this on your podcast
(22:59):
and these episodes will becoming out at the same time, so
as soon as yours goes live Iwill definitely link to it in
these show notes to make sureeverybody can go over and hear
more of the full story.
But it's really cool to take alook through the lens of mental
health and say well, our fight,fight, freeze tend to be friend
system.
The way that it's designed is tokeep us alive, which means it's
(23:20):
always going to default to whatis the worst that can happen
And let's make sure that itdoesn't And then we'll just go
ahead and mitigate the wholerange in between.
But from this higher place moreof the spirit focus and the
intuitive focus we get a chanceto use our higher faculties, tap
into these higher frequencieswhere we can imagine what is the
(23:42):
best that could happen andvision towards that.
I also just love your awarenessof the power of play.
That sounds so cheesy, but wesee it all around us.
It's the kinetic movementinherent in play that not only
(24:02):
does it release endorphins whichis the best, that's the good
stuff but it also helps usrelease, shake off cortisol
which is the stress hormone,which is the silent killer,
essentially the worst that canhappen.
And you see animals all the time.
If they've been under stress,if they've been under stress, if
they've been under stress, hadtrauma, if they're anxious, you
(24:23):
see them shake.
If they've been predated upon.
If we have a lot of feral catsand they prey on some of the
little birds out and if theymanage to escape, you'll see the
little bird pick themselves upand shake their whole body And
she literally shake it offbecause they can't hold on to
that shit and survive throughanother brunch or lunch or
dinner rush.
(24:44):
Giving our animals thisopportunity, giving ourselves
this opportunity to move ourbody, yeah, we feel good, but we
don't realize it's also.
We're literally exhausting thebad.
We're reactivating ourlymphatic system.
Hey, get to work, move thegarbage out of our system, and
so that's the intuition at work.
(25:04):
When you discover this, i feellike there's so much, and we
talked about that.
You are intuitive And I do tendto attract highly intuitive pet
parents as well as highlysensitive pets, and we talked a
lot more about that as well.
It's just so.
So many of your choices havebeen intuitive And now it's just
bringing more consciousness tothat and beginning to really
(25:26):
anchor into the trust inyourself.
Far from being the pet parentwho's eating the shame sandwich
for breakfast, lunch and dinner,it's like this is the narrow
way.
This is the tough stuff thatgets you to the really good
stuff.
Karoline Edmonds (25:41):
Right, right, and I was the person eating the
shit sandwich, or eating theshame sandwich.
The shame shit sandwich, yes,exactly.
Because it was the really badstuff and nobody wanted Right.
I was that person.
I definitely was puttingpressure on her, but pressure on
myself as well.
Constantly it was what am Idoing wrong?
(26:02):
Am I not strong enough?
Am I not capable enough to beher owner?
What I have found too and partof the reason that I'm so just
passionate about this is that Ihave mental health in my family,
and so I've seen what it's liketo be misunderstood with severe
(26:22):
anxiety and depression, andI've seen people I've seen it go
from anxiety and depressionNobody's really supporting them
to very severe anxiety anddepression and you know other
things.
I've seen that, and so I justfrom from the bottom of my heart
, don't want anybody to have toface that.
I don't want anybody to have tofeel that.
(26:44):
I don't want anybody to have tosee what I've seen from my
perspective.
And I know that these thoughtsin one areas, even if it's as
simple as dog ownership, thatcarries over.
If I'm thinking about how I'mnot capable with Layla the next
day, i will think how I'm notcapable of doing something at
work or how I'm not capable ofgiving good advice to a friend,
(27:08):
that stuff carries Like you haveto start working on it in one
area of your life at least, andthen it's going to carry over.
You will notice those patterns.
Shannon Cutts (27:19):
And the other thing that's really interesting
is that so often we do look atthe cookie cutter advice spent
oh you're anxious, oh you'redepressed.
Bring a pet into your life.
It will add instant joy andinstant upliftment And it's like
oh yeah, and extra stress andfinancial, financial and
emotional And a whole.
You're adding another lifestory, building a symphony, and
(27:42):
you've got an instrument that'sout of tune and you've got to
stop everything and you've gotto work with that And so it's.
It's really important toconsider is adding an animal to
my world right now the next beststep?
or might it be that I just needto add some more nature to my
world?
I need to add some more greenspace to my world.
(28:04):
I need to perhaps just hang outwith some wild animals for a
little while or have aconversation.
That's one of the things thatreally can be helpful about
animal communication, too, is isthis the right animal for me,
or is this the right animal forme right now?
I often wonder how it mightchange the relationship if
(28:26):
introduced before.
There's that big commitmentthat's made And, of course, in
your case, you weren't the onemaking the big commitment, it
was your now husband, right, imean I was definitely there, you
know.
Karoline Edmonds (28:38):
He definitely was like, do you like this dog
or this dog?
And I swear I don't even thinkI saw Layla like in a picture or
anything before he got her.
I wasn't even there whenever hegot her because I was visiting
my mom where she lived at thetime, which was an airplane
right away.
So I wasn't there Like I didn'tcare to be involved.
(29:01):
Now, did I help pay for hercrate or her food?
Yeah, like I will help do that,or I did help do that at the
beginning, but I wasn't signingup for anything but cute dog
pictures, cute puppy pictures.
Shannon Cutts (29:16):
It's just so interesting to rewind and take a
look at how it started and howsometimes, when we realize that
we've got a really strong soulbond with another being we may
not like you shared, you weren'tnecessarily what you'd consider
to be an animal person goinginto this, and so sometimes they
have to kind of sneak in theback door and they really
surprise us.
(29:37):
And yet, if you're listening tothis right now or you're
watching this and you arestruggling in your relationship
with your animal and you'rethinking what is my next step, i
feel like changing theconversation to add that
animal's voice to the mix andfind out.
You know what's going on forthem and what ideas do they have
.
(29:57):
Let's say you and your husbandwere having an argument or a
heated discussion over somethingand you can easily hear one
another, you can talk to oneanother, you can use the words
that you both share.
In common With animals, it canbe tougher.
It can be tougher to have thoseconversations and we try in so
many different ways, and you'vehad a lot of those conversations
(30:20):
.
You've worked with differenttrainers.
You have worked with differentmentors.
You've created your own journalwith prompts where pet parents
that are frustrated orstruggling can hopefully get in
touch with what's going on.
Has there been anything elsethat's crossed your path that
has made you feel like you couldreally hear from Layla in the
(30:41):
way that animal communicationhas done?
or has it all been justdifferent aspects of having a
conversation with her?
Karoline Edmonds (30:49):
A lot of the things you know, we kind of
already knew.
It was that very affirming,confirming aspect of it
validation, right.
One of the things that I askedyou was and this was like a true
question that I really neededto know the answer to was does
she want or does she care if weadded a different dog to the
(31:11):
family?
And she said heck, no.
And you know, we kind ofthought like 70% she's probably
going to say no, 30% she mightsay yes, it was not a definite
50-50 split, it was more towardslike we don't think like that
she would want one, but weweren't sure, right.
And so I'm so glad that likethat was one of the questions
that I asked and we got like adefinite answer And like now I
(31:34):
know that that's definitely whatshe wants.
You know, this week I've beendog sitting my best friend's
little dog.
He's two, he'll be three inJuly, i think, and they've
gotten along really really welltogether.
But yesterday Layla and I hadthis moment where she just like
came to me for affection, likeshe's never came to me for
(31:55):
affection before.
It was like she's never had apet in her life, and she just
crawled out of like a dungeon orsomething.
And she was just so like wantedto be next to me, couldn't get
enough.
Like Insani, who is the dog I'msitting, was right there And
one of the things that we've hadto work on so much in our
training was her excitement andreactivity around other dogs And
(32:18):
you know, i thought I don'tknow if I'll be able to have
them in together.
Layla might be too much becausehe's just like a 10-pound puppy
and she's a 10-pound dog andshe's 55, 60.
Like she might be too much.
And in this moment that shecame to me and was just like
wanting all the love, couldn'tget enough.
I felt in that moment I thoughtback to the question of like
(32:39):
would you want another dog?
And in that time I felt likeshe was like it was just coming
up again.
I was like I know that, like shewants me, like all to herself,
like she's my girl, i'm so proudof her, and it was just kind of
this thing of like, like I wantto spend this one-on-one time
with her, like I want more ofthat.
And so, yeah, you know.
(33:00):
Just after that, and thenasking you the exact question,
i'm like no, i don't want to, idon't want another dog anymore,
but we'll stick with just Laylafor now.
That was one of the questionsthat, like you know, i really
didn't know the answer to.
I had no idea what was going tocome out of your mouth And so,
yeah, that was.
Shannon Cutts (33:15):
That was really really great to know And it's
very revealing because we haveour very analytical, very
logical reasons And you and Italked about that for why we
cook up these ideas Right, andsometimes they're great ideas
And sometimes we have thatconversation and we discover
they really are heart-centricideas or there really is a way
(33:36):
forward if that's really wanted.
But in many cases it's reallyjust a function of our
analytical, logical left brainlodging its way to a conclusion
We like okay.
Well, what is adding anotheranimal really going to add to
Layla's life?
to your life.
Is this the only way to createan environment where this
(33:58):
becomes possible?
And then just recognizing thatit's not all about making
sacrifices so that someone welove and have been working on
our relationship with sodiligently can have an enhanced
experience of life with us.
It's like maybe they don't wantthat either, right Right, or
maybe as one of my intuitiveteachers on your show, kett,
(34:20):
talks about how good can youstand it?
because sometimes we're notcomfortable with that level of
joy and bliss and closeness Andso we actually work against what
we're visioning for, so what wereally, really want, because
we're afraid that we can'thandle it.
There's just nothing in ourworldview and our frame of
(34:40):
reference that said it couldever get this guy.
I didn't vision it to be thisgood.
I was only seeing us get toabout C minus.
I was never thinking A plus,plus, and so when it comes we're
like, oh, let me just add alittle more chaos, let me just,
you know, back it up.
Karoline Edmonds (34:56):
It's a little bit of self-sacrifice, Yeah
absolutely.
Shannon Cutts (34:59):
One of the things that I'm continually just
floored by and very inspired byis the amount of brave that it
takes to have an authentic firstperson conversation with your
animal, and I remember the dayswhen I was hiring animal
communicators and I waited withbated breath to hear the answers
to questions like what do youthink are your food or is your
(35:20):
habitat okay?
And agonized when one of myreptiles said she wanted two
pools instead of one and thatwould have taken up her whole
habitat.
We have to recognize there areso many layers to a conversation
And yet it's a negotiation aswell.
So coming into an animalcommunication conversation, it's
easy to forget that we alreadyknow how to have conversations.
(35:42):
We're just a little bitunaccustomed to having a third
party translator present.
A lot of the fear factor forpeople can be.
Well, what if my animal saysthey don't like me or they don't
like something in theirenvironment or they don't want
something that I want, right.
Karoline Edmonds (35:59):
And you know, that's one of the things that I
thought about, because I'm veryopen about our relationship used
to really suck And I recognizeduring those times that I was
part of the problem.
I put a lot of pressure on us,i made a ton of mistakes And I
thought about that before oursession.
I was like I wonder if Layla'sgoing to say something about
like how she used to not like meeither.
(36:21):
It was kind of like a littlebit like I had to prepare myself
because if I had heard that, iwould have been very upset.
Even though it was in the past,i still I still would have been
upset.
So like I did have to kind ofprepare myself for that a little
bit, because I knew that itcould be a truth, like it could
come up And that's so importantto hear, especially if you are
(36:43):
listening right now or watching,and you have never had this
experience.
Shannon Cutts (36:46):
One thing I can share to that point is that I
have not found unless there's adirect question involved from
their person, I have not foundanimals to be too interested in
talking about what has happenedbefore.
Karoline Edmonds (36:59):
Right.
Shannon Cutts (36:59):
They're very present, focused.
And the other thing I can shareand I've had animals say things
pretty bluntly, and yet there'salways a note of kindness.
And I'm thinking of oneparticular client whose soul dog
passed and he was strugglingwith a lot of guilt about some
of his perceived shortcomings asa pet parent and some of the
(37:20):
things that he felt hadn't goneright at the time.
And when I talked with his souldog, what she said was you're
the kind of person that I wantedto spend my whole life with,
because when you know better,you do better, and that inspires
me.
You didn't know then, so ofcourse you weren't doing it, but
you understand now.
And that's why you're askingthese questions.
(37:41):
I'm getting goosebumps becauseI can feel it.
Karoline Edmonds (37:44):
I know I'm making me tear up a little bit
Yeah.
Shannon Cutts (37:48):
And just so.
Yes, there can be an awarenessof things that weren't perfect.
I have yet to even find anotherhuman relationship where I can
say, man, i nailed that one,like I did everything right.
But it's the way in which theanimal views how everything
unfolded, and so when they doshare, you almost are glad that
(38:10):
it didn't go well, because yougrow like the yeah, sniff, sniff
, like there's, like your heart,it's like oh, i'll never forget
that.
I will go to my deathbed and Iwill remember that conversation.
Karoline Edmonds (38:22):
Yeah, you had to have those tough times in
order to really grow, and thedefinition of love is to be able
to see who's really in theirpast.
Shannon Cutts (38:30):
At least this is my definition.
I don't know how everybodydefines it, but to be able to
see past the person or thebeing's limitations to the
essence of who they are.
And that captured how his souldog really saw him for who he is
, for his heart, not for hislearning curve, right.
And so that's an example, oneof many, of how animals will
(38:53):
respond.
if, in this particular case,there was a direct question
involved as well Are you mad atme because I didn't do fill in
the blanks?
I don't think that the dogwould have shared anything about
it.
it would have even beeninterested to discuss it if it
hadn't been for that directquestion.
So animal communication can beits own healing process when we
(39:15):
discover that there's more thanone way to see ourself and to
see our growth.
And there's beings in our lifewho willingly stay, who see us
in so much of a higher and moreunconditionally accepting place
than we see ourselves.
Karoline Edmonds (39:31):
Yeah.
Shannon Cutts (39:32):
That's why one of the reasons I'm so excited to
have you on the show, karen,let's talk to animals is because
I do feel like when the time isright to add these direct
conversations with our animalcompanions to the mix, we will
know, but I love that you wereso aware and you were trusting
yourself and that, even thoughthere was this fear factor thing
(39:53):
kind of going in, that you hadbuilt up enough self-trust
currency and that you were yousaid okay, now is a good time
Now is the right time, ratherthan just going up into the head
again and going well, does thismake logical sense?
Animal communication isn't aboutlogic.
You know logic our way there.
We heart our way there.
Yeah, And you've added so manyother experiences into your life
(40:17):
that you have really kind ofpaved the way for your own
intuition to have a bigger seatat the table as well.
Karoline Edmonds (40:24):
Yeah, This was a little bit of a treat for me,
you know, to do the animalcommunication session because,
like I said, we aren't in thetrenches, layla isn't going
through any kind of illnessright now, and so I think
typically like those are whenpeople come to do an animal
communication session.
Shannon Cutts (40:43):
Yeah, you must.
Karoline Edmonds (40:45):
Right, this is almost a little bit more like a
treat, like a fun thing andlike maybe a little bit
pervinative for us to just keepme on my toes and keep me aware
of things, to look out for,things, to appreciate.
I mean now, every time that Igo to post something, i
literally think about how Laylasaid that she loves being a
(41:06):
Canaan ambassador and being apart of something bigger, right?
So it brings up a lot of littlethings in our day to day life.
Now that just makes me smile.
Shannon Cutts (41:14):
It makes my day to hear it, because preventative
is it's what I'm all about And,as I'm developing courses and
new offerings for my clients whoare becoming students of animal
communication themselves, thatdream of doing myself out of a
job, because there's some atleast one person in every family
who can serve in that role forthe family as a whole, because
(41:37):
it is definitely possible And itis very much.
Just like you don't want to letanything stew with your partner
or your bestie or your boss oryour coworkers, we don't want to
let anything stew with our pets, we want to have that
preventative conversation andthat's a skill set in all and of
itself.
That would be a whole otherpodcast probably.
(41:57):
There are so many beings in ourlife where we can practice
being brave and discover that,far from it being worse than we
could imagine, it's better thanwe ever expected.
No, i really appreciate you'retaking the time to come on.
Let's talk to animals and sharea little bit more.
I share about what it was likefor you to have a session and to
be able to talk with Layla andshare some of the behind the
(42:20):
scenes of how you prepared andyour reasons and just
acknowledging you for being suchan open book and being willing
really to try everything thatoffers the promise of you and
Layla Knowing really how goodcan you stand this Right Totally
.
It sounds like it's gettingpretty darn good, Karoline.
(42:41):
we are at the point in our showwhere I've mentioned it here
and there throughout, but pleasetell us a little bit more about
how our listeners and viewerscan connect with you, especially
if they're feeling a littleisolated or a little overwhelmed
or eating that very untastysandwich we talked about and
some of the resources that youhave for them.
Karoline Edmonds (43:01):
Yeah, so you can find me on all social media.
At dogmommentality, i'mprimarily on Instagram, so if
you want to message me, that'sthe place to do it.
My website isdogmommentalitycom.
On there there are a line ofshirts that are inspired by
(43:22):
being an empowered dog owner.
There's little stories behindeach of the shirts, and then
there's also a journal.
So the journal comes in spiralor are hard bound.
It is comprised of fourdifferent sections and intention
setting section, a goal settingsection.
The actual beef of the journalis broken down into 10.
Common emotions dog owners facefrom frustration to bravery, to
(43:45):
anxiety alone, anything And sothey each have prompts with each
emotion, and so that guidedaspect of it really helps a lot
of people that are new tojournaling.
But it's all from the eyes of adog owner, so all of the
questions kind of relate back alittle bit to the situation that
you were going through withyour dog.
And then the last section ofthe journal is a wins tracker
(44:06):
for you to just write down allof your wins being in small.
And then the last place thatyou can find me is on Apple or
Spotify, wherever you listen topodcasts, for the
dogmommentality podcast.
Shannon Cutts (44:18):
I love this and I love the wins, because that
gratitude and it's also a way toreally take a look from where
you are now And it's like, yeah,maybe it's not perfect, maybe
there's a little tweak that wecould make here or there, maybe
a big tweak, but shoot, wow,we're getting to the point where
we are tweaking rather thanwell, that didn't come out right
, but you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, yeah, the minor things.
(44:41):
Yeah, it's not the big thingsExactly.
And if you're listening in oryou're watching and you're in
the big things thing, i can'tencourage you enough to connect
up with Karoline and hercommunity as well and just
really recognize that theanimals that we keep company
with are complex, highly evolved, intuitive and empathic beings.
(45:05):
And I truly, the more I do thiswork, the more I have come to
not just believe but experiencethat there are no accidents in
who we cross paths with.
So if you have been thinking toyourself, man, i wish there was
somebody I could talk with orjust vent to, or I just feel so
alone After this, a happy, notaccident, and an invitation to
(45:27):
step out of the isolating shameand the shadows and into a
supportive world of newfriendships where you can really
own that being partnered withany being of any species is a
pretty big deal.
Brave you, and let's get yousome support and some
encouragement so that youcontinue that journey not just
(45:50):
with a brave face but with abrave heart.
So, Karoline, thank you again.
I'll, of course, put all yourlinks in the show notes and the
link to the journal, but justabsolutely delighted to have had
a little window and a littlespot in your life with Layla
Princess Beauty is an absolutedelight.
I just adore her and what agift to meet you.
(46:10):
So thank you again.
And for those of you who arelistening or watching and you
have found let's talk to animalsout of all the podcast, and the
podcast just fear.
And you are listening for thefirst time, you're watching for
the first time.
Welcome, or so delighted tohave you.
The animal communication is nomore or less than having a hunch
or a vibe or an aha moment AndI invite you to continue your
(46:31):
journey with us.
We are releasing new episodesevery two weeks this year for
season four to give me a littlemore time to prepare and really
dive in deep.
You've got three amazingseasons before this one and feel
free to reach out either viayour favorite streaming service
or you can always find us overat animallovelinguagescom back
slash podcast and that can getyou wherever you need to go or
(46:54):
to reach out to me directly.
If that's your intention, i'dlove to hear from you.
So we'll be back with you intwo weeks for a fresh new
episode and sending you and yourinner species family all of our
love.
Okay, bye for now.
Welcome to Let's Talk to Animals, the podcast
about inner speciescommunication.
My name is Shannon Cutts.
I am your friendly neighborhoodhostess, along with Miss Petal
Cutts, my four-month-oldcockatiel.
We are here today chattingabout animal communication with
today's guest, Karoline from DogMom Mentality, with Leila, aka
(00:35):
Princess Beauty, And we willexplain a little bit more about
that.
We're here talking about howanimal communication can
complement other growthopportunities and how it can fit
in with the bigger picture ofbeing a pet guardian or a dog
mom or a cat dad or wherever youfind yourself in your
(00:58):
relationships with your owncompanion animals, rescue
animals, animals you work with.
Welcome, Karoline.
Karoline Edmonds (01:06):
Thank you, I am very excited to be here.
We've had our actual sessioncommunication session.
You've been on my podcastrecording and now I'm here, So
we've talked to each other a lothere recently.
Shannon Cutts (01:20):
And it's been so much fun and I'm learning so
much.
I highly recommend heading overand adding Dog Mom Mentality to
your playlist if you haven'talready.
It's an amazing podcast with somany resources and so much
real-world experience,especially if you have a dog who
is in the least bitunresponsive to play or reactive
(01:42):
or anxious in any way.
You can just get so much support.
That's what we've really beenfocusing for the last several
episodes here on Let's Talk toAnimals.
Is that feeling of compendingdoom or, at the very least,
isolation or personal shame,that you feel like, oh, my pet's
broken and it's like let's talk?
Karoline Edmonds (02:03):
about this Right?
Yeah, you're not alone.
Let's just say that you'redefinitely not alone.
And that's actually how mypodcast got started.
Because Layla was a difficult,reactive dog And at the time I
felt very alone, isolated,misunderstood.
(02:24):
I felt like I couldn't go anddo my normal things.
I just wanted to be a normaldog owner walking their dog, but
it just wasn't like that Andfound this community on
Instagram at the time prettysmall but very mighty, you know.
I finally felt like I was beingheard And I started the podcast
because I was like I want toshow people the behind the
(02:44):
scenes of reactive dog ownersand all of the hard work, the
emotional labor, the actualphysical training that we do
with our dog that other peoplemight not realize or might not
understand why we do it the waythat we do.
And I kind of got a bunch ofdifferent people from various
aspects of aggression or fear orseparation, anxiety, just kind
(03:08):
of like a wide array and startedtalking to them, eventually
turned it into like this fullblown podcast that now covers
any way that your dog canemotionally affect you.
Shannon Cutts (03:19):
So it doesn't necessarily have to be reactive
dog stories anymore, but that'sstill a really big piece of it
And it's also interestingbecause our pets can be and you
and I talked about this in oursession with Layla, but our pets
can be very much some of theclosest mirrors in our lives,
holding a rather comfortablemirror up to show us some things
(03:42):
that may be going on within usthat we may not either be aware
of, or we may not think they'reproblematic, or we may have just
given up on those aspects ofourselves.
And they can also be some ofour most powerful mentors and
teachers, through modelingbehaviors or just a ways of
being in this world that we canlearn a ton from.
(04:06):
You and I talked when we werechatting about what Layla had to
say.
We were talking about soulcontracts and how there really
isn't any accidents.
So if you're listening to thisor you're watching this today
and you're going, mind spoken,or how did I end up like this?
Or it's just not matching upwith my vision, one thing I
would really encourage you toconsider, other than going over
(04:26):
to dogmommentalitycom, the otherthing I would invite you to
consider, is that if you canimagine it, you can create it,
and so it's already out there.
Consider that this is your life, knocking and inviting you out
to play, maybe literally,definitely metaphorically,
inviting you out to grow, tolearn, to evolve, to transform,
and that you and the particularanimal you're keeping company
(04:49):
with, whether for a reason, aseason or a lifetime, so to
speak, is the perfect partnerfor that, absolutely the perfect
partner.
I love Don Miguel Rue as thefour agreements, and one of the
four is don't take anythingpersonally.
And so your dog has come intoyour life, or your cat, or your
parrot, or your turtle orwhoever it is.
They've come into your life asa part of their look at her.
(05:13):
You're watching the video.
She's got the four agreementsright there.
Don Miguel Rue has amazing,amazing, amazing.
I follow him on Instagram.
I've known about him through amentor of mine for many years.
Obviously, Karoline, you do aswell, so highly recommended
homework for you today, orplaywork, if you will just try.
On these four agreements forsize.
(05:34):
We can make the same mistakewith our kids anyone with whom
we regularly encounter andengage in relationship with that
.
We take their behavior or theirstuff personally, as if it's a
reflection of us And in reality,your animal came to you already
fully engaged in their ownstory and their own stuff.
(05:54):
So, Karoline, i didn't reallyprep you for this but I'm sorry
about that.
But I always love to invite ourguests to take us back to the
beginning, because I have cometo know you and absolutely
treasure who you are and yourstory and Layla's story.
But our listeners, they, maynot know you and Layla at all
yet.
So can you just share a littlebit about how you got to where
(06:17):
you are today and also how youbecame a little curious in
adding animal communication toLayla's toolkit and your toolkit
together?
So just take and rewind us alittle.
Karoline Edmonds (06:29):
Yeah.
So I love talking about thisand I kind of call it my dog mom
phases because I think about,like the different stages that
we went through.
So my husband actually gotLayla himself and it was kind of
like a hey, i want to get a dogwe're dating, so like it's
going to be our dog, but likehey, i'll take care of it, i'll
(06:51):
do all the potty training, i'lldo the feeding, all of that.
I was like, okay, great, at thetime we were in college and it
was February of 2020.
So we were in our senior yearof college and we lived
separately.
So the remaining college months, which would have been about
four at the time, she was goingto stay with him, she was going
(07:11):
to be his dog, all good anddandy.
Well, the next month, thepandemic hit And so we all moved
from college to my mom's houseand me, my husband, my boyfriend
at the time and Layla startedto live there And I started to
grow kind of a connection withher.
(07:32):
But it was a lot of like the I'mthe fun parent kind of thing.
I'm just going to take picturesof her.
She's just like going to belike a cute little asset.
I had no intention on likehaving this big of a
relationship with her.
Growing up I had dogs, but itwas kind of the same, like they
were just there.
I didn't have like a ton ofconnection with them, never
(07:52):
really been like a big animalperson, if you want to know the
truth.
And so at that time she was apuppy.
We were doing like the cute sitshake, like cute tricks, not a
ton of like functional training,especially because the world
was shut down.
So she's going to have a lot ofthe social training that
puppies at that stage normallyget fast forward a little bit
(08:14):
And she's in her like adolescentstage, which is like the eight
months to like eight, ninemonths to like a year ish old,
and that's the time that they'regetting a little bit more rowdy
, right.
And you know, we didn't reallydo much of training.
I she was just kind of thereall day.
We just kind of coexisted.
And my husband started to gofor work trips where he would go
(08:39):
for one to two weeks And Iwould be the one responsible for
Layla.
He was also working at anoffice and I worked from home.
So I started to become moreresponsible for her and you can
blame this on whatever.
But we got to this point wherewe had zero relationship.
I was asking her to do things,i was taking her out and she
(09:00):
wasn't listening to me.
Or I would ask her to get offthe couch and she would just
look at me.
And it eventually got to thispoint that I would describe us
as a step sisters living in thesame house.
So you know, step sisters havelike a really weird dynamic
where it's like a power dynamicand they're like a little bit
(09:20):
like am I allowed to curse?
Shannon Cutts (09:23):
Absolutely Okay.
Karoline Edmonds (09:24):
They're like you know they're like, you know,
they're like maybe a little bitbitchy to each other, like how
stepsisters do, and they're likeI don't want to be here, but
I'm here.
That's kind of how me and Laylawere, quite honestly, that's
the best way that I can describeit.
And so we ended up getting tothis point that, besides in the
house, you know, she was superfearful on walks So we couldn't
(09:45):
really take her out off of ourstreet And she started to have
create aggression, which waskind of the tipping point for us
, because having a dog reacttowards you bark at you, snarl
at you, growl at you, snap atyou That's like a whole
different experience.
It's just like the lowest oflow that you could get.
(10:06):
I like, in terms of likeemotions from a dog owners
perspective, it was awful.
It was awful.
So that was really the tippingpoint.
And the time we were havingthese really hard conversations
of like what do we do?
Do we re-home her?
Do we try training?
Like how much do I want to beinvolved with that in this?
How much can my husband beinvolved with this?
Like, what are we going to do?
So we did a few different, wewent through a few different
(10:29):
trainers and we ended up findinga solution, or not a solution,
but something to work towards,like a hopeful, hopeful thing to
work towards, right, and wewere starting to get something
under our belt to give us alittle bit of confidence.
Like okay, like, maybe we cankeep her, maybe we can work
through this.
I don't know how long it'sgoing to take but, like, all I
want is for my dog to listen tome and to like be able to walk
(10:51):
off of her, off of our streetlike a normal dog.
So that was kind of like thefirst two to three phases of
like us not really even likingeach other, to us being at the
lowest of low because of herreactivity and behavioral issues
.
So then we started reallygetting into training and I
became obsessed with it And it'spart of the perfectionist in me
(11:15):
and the people pleaser that Istarted to take her out and I
didn't want to look like a baddog owner.
I I wanted everything to beprecise, tight, managed, nothing
wrong, so I wouldn't get blamedas the bad dog owner.
It wouldn't be on me.
And a lot of the times I sawher as a reflection of me and my
(11:36):
work And you know I've alwaysbeen a hardworking person but at
the same time, i've always beenvery independent.
I was a, a um, an only childgrowing up, so like I literally
only depended on myself to getwhat I wanted and the outcome of
things, you know, i Idetermined how well it was going
to be, and so for her to be thefirst thing in my life that I
(12:00):
put so much work into but theoutcome wasn't what I expected
just because she's her ownliving, breathing thing was
really really hard on me.
So we were making some progresswith the training, but I was
having a lot of judgment, a lotof shame, a lot of bad, negative
thought patterns, and not onlyabout her but about myself and
(12:21):
about us as a team.
And I eventually got to thispoint that we had come to so
much progress.
but I felt like we had hit aplateau, and that's where I
really discovered um play andit's what made us just kind of
get over that plateau, get overthat hump.
It really started to build thatconnection between us that I
didn't even know that we needed.
(12:42):
Right, i was so, so worriedabout getting us to the point
with training that she couldwalk beside me, not pull, not
bark, not look at another dog,only look at me.
You know all of the like, quote, unquote perfect dog things
that I totally missed out onlike the actual like let's have
fun, let loose, like and beplayful a little bit.
(13:02):
This power of play, which I'mon a big kick right now because
I'm doing this claim reflect 30day challenge to encourage
others to play with their dogand learn more about play.
But throughout all of that,that really got us over the hump
on this connection that we werereally really missing out on,
and I was able to finally catchmy breath a little bit and like
able to like reflect and likelook back on, like everything
(13:25):
that was happening and like bemore aware, to like make changes
in the moment.
And so, from that point on,we're really at this stage now
that, like, we're living thelife that I envisioned, we're
living the life that I hadwanted.
Right, it can only go up fromhere, you know, as long as we
keep putting in like theconsistent maintenance practice
(13:48):
and training.
She just totally exceeds myexpectations every day now and
it's so amazing.
But now you know I have thetime to focus on myself a little
bit more, on other things andlike, yes, she's still a top
priority for me, but whenever Iwas so worried about her
training, i completely lostmyself to that.
(14:09):
It was like my whole identitywas being this reactive dog mom,
like I had to take care of mydog.
And now I'm in this phase whereit's a little bit more chilled
with her, i'm in a very, verygood place, but like I'm able to
focus so much more on myselfand explore other things that I
am besides being a dog mom.
Which kind of leads into yoursecond question, which was you
(14:31):
know, how did I get into thisanimal communication?
So one of the things that I'vebeen exploring in the past year
is this spirituality land, likethis woo woo land, like what's
going on in this.
You know, holistic world,spiritual, and I'm in a
mentorship program right nowthat has to do all about the
spiritual and energetics ofrunning your own business or
(14:55):
being an entrepreneur, and allof the topics in it really,
really interests me And it's allabout taking care of yourself,
because you have to take care ofyourself for your business to
really thrive.
And so in that we reallystarted to dive deeper into
spirituality, holistic health,astrology, intuition, all of
(15:20):
these things And I was likethat's really cool.
And my mentor had mentionedthat she had done a pet
communication session.
It's like that sounds right upmy alley, like let's look into
it.
And I'm all about being moreintentional and anything that
can bring me more awareness,like just sign me up, whether
it's journaling, talking tosomebody else, having them kind
(15:44):
of be a mirror back at me.
You know, that's why I'm doingmy mentorship program being more
intentional and intuitive, withLayla watching her movements,
trying to see, like what's goingon there.
And so I was like sign me upfor animal communication.
So I was shopping around alittle bit and I hadn't really
found anybody that I liked.
(16:04):
And then you popped into myinbox and I was like perfect,
this is such great timing.
And so I decided to book asession with you.
And now here we are And it's socool.
Shannon Cutts (16:14):
You touch on so many important facets of not
only just what is possible.
I mean you literally write herein front of us.
If you're listening or you'rewatching, you just heard the
transformation that is possibleand all of the wonderful perks
that got added along the way.
And in this particular case,you and Layla have already
(16:37):
transitioned through so manyfacets of your shared growth and
evolution together before youadded animal communication to
your toolkit.
In many cases, someone like meis where a frustrated, isolated,
ashamed, anxious or grievingpet parent will start.
In either case, what I'mhearing from you is it added so
(17:00):
much to your relationship, butit wasn't like the solution.
I mean, sometimes it can be,but it's another wonderful
opportunity to check somethingoff your bucket list together
and also have an experience thatwill deepen your appreciation
and just your awareness of thefullness of the other being's
(17:23):
life.
And I love it if you'd shared afew of your aha moments from
your session with Layla, becauseit is so interesting how you
say my identity was wrapped upin Layla's behavior and we were
just focused on pretty much oneaspect of our shared life
together, which was making sureshe did what I said when I said
to do it, and even in situationswhere it was very compelling
(17:48):
for her to want to do somethingdifferent, and kind of
forgetting about all the otherways that you could experience
one another.
And I felt like your sessionwith Layla, that she had a lot
to say and share about herself,and not all of it was a surprise
or was new to you, but it wasextremely affirming and
(18:08):
confirming for you in manyrespects.
So I would love it if you wouldshare a little bit more about
how the session has affected youand impacted how you've
continued to interact with yoursweet soul dog.
Karoline Edmonds (18:21):
Right, yeah, and it's so interesting too,
because if I would have donethis two years ago, where we
were still a little bit in thetrenches, i don't know if I
would have been open tosomething like this, open to
hearing what you had to say.
No, i think one thing about itis that if you're going to do
something like this, you have tohave your heart open to
(18:43):
receiving this information andtaking it in and filtering it a
little bit.
But then the other thing that Iwanted to touch on is whenever
I was so caught up in thebehavioral side of it, making
sure she's the perfect dog quote, unquote some of the perfect
dog owner I just put so muchpressure on us, it was just
(19:04):
constant pressure.
And I think whenever we weretalking about the feedback loop
and the soul contract during oursession, we talked a lot about
how, if my anxiety anddepression increases, her
anxiety increases And if mymental health gets a little bit
(19:24):
better, then hers gets a littlebit better.
It's not really a teeter-totter, right, because if one goes up,
the other one goes up, but it'sdefinitely this feedback loop
right.
And so whenever we were in thisplace that I was doing all the
training, doing all the thingsthat I thought I was supposed to
be doing with her.
It was still so pressure-filledAnd so my anxiety was still
(19:47):
very much heightened, and Ithink that's one of the reasons
that we had a plateau, that weweren't able to get over the
hump at some point, and itwasn't really until I let loose
a little bit and was like I'mgoing to try something that I
don't even know what it's goingto do, but I'm going to try to
keep playing with her.
It sounds so simple to actuallymove around with her and be
(20:08):
goofy and silly.
It literally does, it releasesendorphins and everything right.
But it was so healing for metoo, i think, just to be goofy
with her Because, like I said, iwas an only child growing up
And so I played by myself a lotAnd I didn't have a little
brother or sister to wrestlewith, and now I'm out here
wrestling and rolling around onthe grass with Layla, so it's
(20:30):
like a very healing aspect of itas well for me.
Some of the other aha moments orreally just affirming moments
that we had during our sessionwas she had the one thing that
she said that I was like I don'teven know how anybody would
know that.
Like that's wild.
It was absolutely crazy.
It's kind of personal so I'mnot going to say it, but I just
(20:51):
was like I can't believe thatcame up and it was so exact and
direct, with the sole contractand the anxiety going up and her
anxiety going up.
That was very affirming.
I very much had awareness ofthat.
But then to hear it coming fromyou, from her, it just was like
(21:12):
OK, this is the truth, this ishow she interprets it as well.
Some of the other things thatreally got me were the fact that
she said that she loves being acanine ambassador.
She loves knowing that she ispart of the bigger mission And I
have this mission with Dog Mommentality which is to increase
(21:36):
emotional intelligence, empathyand awareness and destigmatized
mental health through the lensof dog ownership.
And the fact that she knowsthat she's a part of that was
really really, really cool to meand it made my heart really
really happy.
Shannon Cutts (21:50):
Let's see some of the other things And I want to
pause there for just a moment,because that's the kind of airy
fairy thing where we just thatgives animal communication its
woo woo reputation.
And in many ways gives folkswho are on the fence, are
actively skeptical of reason,not to even give it a seat at
(22:11):
the table, not to even give achance.
And yet when I shared that, youtold me how much she loves the
camera She does.
Karoline Edmonds (22:18):
It's like, whenever you said that I was
like, you know, i never reallyconsidered that, but like she
definitely does love the camera.
She loves performing.
You know what I mean.
She loves being right therewith me And you know what.
It might be because I havetreats, but like it might just
be because she knows she's partof something bigger.
Shannon Cutts (22:36):
Something that provides any kind of affirmation
and opens up even more playful,more inventive, more creative
lens for you both.
It's like if it sings to yourheart and you see any evidence
anywhere in your life thatthere's a shared resonance.
And I think we talked a littlebit about this on your podcast
(22:59):
and these episodes will becoming out at the same time, so
as soon as yours goes live Iwill definitely link to it in
these show notes to make sureeverybody can go over and hear
more of the full story.
But it's really cool to take alook through the lens of mental
health and say well, our fight,fight, freeze tend to be friend
system.
The way that it's designed is tokeep us alive, which means it's
(23:20):
always going to default to whatis the worst that can happen
And let's make sure that itdoesn't And then we'll just go
ahead and mitigate the wholerange in between.
But from this higher place moreof the spirit focus and the
intuitive focus we get a chanceto use our higher faculties, tap
into these higher frequencieswhere we can imagine what is the
(23:42):
best that could happen andvision towards that.
I also just love your awarenessof the power of play.
That sounds so cheesy, but wesee it all around us.
It's the kinetic movementinherent in play that not only
(24:02):
does it release endorphins whichis the best, that's the good
stuff but it also helps usrelease, shake off cortisol
which is the stress hormone,which is the silent killer,
essentially the worst that canhappen.
And you see animals all the time.
If they've been under stress,if they've been under stress, if
they've been under stress, hadtrauma, if they're anxious, you
(24:23):
see them shake.
If they've been predated upon.
If we have a lot of feral catsand they prey on some of the
little birds out and if theymanage to escape, you'll see the
little bird pick themselves upand shake their whole body And
she literally shake it offbecause they can't hold on to
that shit and survive throughanother brunch or lunch or
dinner rush.
(24:44):
Giving our animals thisopportunity, giving ourselves
this opportunity to move ourbody, yeah, we feel good, but we
don't realize it's also.
We're literally exhausting thebad.
We're reactivating ourlymphatic system.
Hey, get to work, move thegarbage out of our system, and
so that's the intuition at work.
(25:04):
When you discover this, i feellike there's so much, and we
talked about that.
You are intuitive And I do tendto attract highly intuitive pet
parents as well as highlysensitive pets, and we talked a
lot more about that as well.
It's just so.
So many of your choices havebeen intuitive And now it's just
bringing more consciousness tothat and beginning to really
(25:26):
anchor into the trust inyourself.
Far from being the pet parentwho's eating the shame sandwich
for breakfast, lunch and dinner,it's like this is the narrow
way.
This is the tough stuff thatgets you to the really good
stuff.
Karoline Edmonds (25:41):
Right, right, and I was the person eating the
shit sandwich, or eating theshame sandwich.
The shame shit sandwich, yes,exactly.
Because it was the really badstuff and nobody wanted Right.
I was that person.
I definitely was puttingpressure on her, but pressure on
myself as well.
Constantly it was what am Idoing wrong?
(26:02):
Am I not strong enough?
Am I not capable enough to beher owner?
What I have found too and partof the reason that I'm so just
passionate about this is that Ihave mental health in my family,
and so I've seen what it's liketo be misunderstood with severe
(26:22):
anxiety and depression, andI've seen people I've seen it go
from anxiety and depressionNobody's really supporting them
to very severe anxiety anddepression and you know other
things.
I've seen that, and so I justfrom from the bottom of my heart
, don't want anybody to have toface that.
I don't want anybody to have tofeel that.
(26:44):
I don't want anybody to have tosee what I've seen from my
perspective.
And I know that these thoughtsin one areas, even if it's as
simple as dog ownership, thatcarries over.
If I'm thinking about how I'mnot capable with Layla the next
day, i will think how I'm notcapable of doing something at
work or how I'm not capable ofgiving good advice to a friend,
(27:08):
that stuff carries Like you haveto start working on it in one
area of your life at least, andthen it's going to carry over.
You will notice those patterns.
Shannon Cutts (27:19):
And the other thing that's really interesting
is that so often we do look atthe cookie cutter advice spent
oh you're anxious, oh you'redepressed.
Bring a pet into your life.
It will add instant joy andinstant upliftment And it's like
oh yeah, and extra stress andfinancial, financial and
emotional And a whole.
You're adding another lifestory, building a symphony, and
(27:42):
you've got an instrument that'sout of tune and you've got to
stop everything and you've gotto work with that And so it's.
It's really important toconsider is adding an animal to
my world right now the next beststep?
or might it be that I just needto add some more nature to my
world?
I need to add some more greenspace to my world.
(28:04):
I need to perhaps just hang outwith some wild animals for a
little while or have aconversation.
That's one of the things thatreally can be helpful about
animal communication, too, is isthis the right animal for me,
or is this the right animal forme right now?
I often wonder how it mightchange the relationship if
(28:26):
introduced before.
There's that big commitmentthat's made And, of course, in
your case, you weren't the onemaking the big commitment, it
was your now husband, right, imean I was definitely there, you
know.
Karoline Edmonds (28:38):
He definitely was like, do you like this dog
or this dog?
And I swear I don't even thinkI saw Layla like in a picture or
anything before he got her.
I wasn't even there whenever hegot her because I was visiting
my mom where she lived at thetime, which was an airplane
right away.
So I wasn't there Like I didn'tcare to be involved.
(29:01):
Now, did I help pay for hercrate or her food?
Yeah, like I will help do that,or I did help do that at the
beginning, but I wasn't signingup for anything but cute dog
pictures, cute puppy pictures.
Shannon Cutts (29:16):
It's just so interesting to rewind and take a
look at how it started and howsometimes, when we realize that
we've got a really strong soulbond with another being we may
not like you shared, you weren'tnecessarily what you'd consider
to be an animal person goinginto this, and so sometimes they
have to kind of sneak in theback door and they really
surprise us.
(29:37):
And yet, if you're listening tothis right now or you're
watching this and you arestruggling in your relationship
with your animal and you'rethinking what is my next step, i
feel like changing theconversation to add that
animal's voice to the mix andfind out.
You know what's going on forthem and what ideas do they have
.
(29:57):
Let's say you and your husbandwere having an argument or a
heated discussion over somethingand you can easily hear one
another, you can talk to oneanother, you can use the words
that you both share.
In common With animals, it canbe tougher.
It can be tougher to have thoseconversations and we try in so
many different ways, and you'vehad a lot of those conversations
(30:20):
.
You've worked with differenttrainers.
You have worked with differentmentors.
You've created your own journalwith prompts where pet parents
that are frustrated orstruggling can hopefully get in
touch with what's going on.
Has there been anything elsethat's crossed your path that
has made you feel like you couldreally hear from Layla in the
(30:41):
way that animal communicationhas done?
or has it all been justdifferent aspects of having a
conversation with her?
Karoline Edmonds (30:49):
A lot of the things you know, we kind of
already knew.
It was that very affirming,confirming aspect of it
validation, right.
One of the things that I askedyou was and this was like a true
question that I really neededto know the answer to was does
she want or does she care if weadded a different dog to the
(31:11):
family?
And she said heck, no.
And you know, we kind ofthought like 70% she's probably
going to say no, 30% she mightsay yes, it was not a definite
50-50 split, it was more towardslike we don't think like that
she would want one, but weweren't sure, right.
And so I'm so glad that likethat was one of the questions
that I asked and we got like adefinite answer And like now I
(31:34):
know that that's definitely whatshe wants.
You know, this week I've beendog sitting my best friend's
little dog.
He's two, he'll be three inJuly, i think, and they've
gotten along really really welltogether.
But yesterday Layla and I hadthis moment where she just like
came to me for affection, likeshe's never came to me for
(31:55):
affection before.
It was like she's never had apet in her life, and she just
crawled out of like a dungeon orsomething.
And she was just so like wantedto be next to me, couldn't get
enough.
Like Insani, who is the dog I'msitting, was right there And
one of the things that we've hadto work on so much in our
training was her excitement andreactivity around other dogs And
(32:18):
you know, i thought I don'tknow if I'll be able to have
them in together.
Layla might be too much becausehe's just like a 10-pound puppy
and she's a 10-pound dog andshe's 55, 60.
Like she might be too much.
And in this moment that shecame to me and was just like
wanting all the love, couldn'tget enough.
I felt in that moment I thoughtback to the question of like
(32:39):
would you want another dog?
And in that time I felt likeshe was like it was just coming
up again.
I was like I know that, like shewants me, like all to herself,
like she's my girl, i'm so proudof her, and it was just kind of
this thing of like, like I wantto spend this one-on-one time
with her, like I want more ofthat.
And so, yeah, you know.
(33:00):
Just after that, and thenasking you the exact question,
i'm like no, i don't want to, idon't want another dog anymore,
but we'll stick with just Laylafor now.
That was one of the questionsthat, like you know, i really
didn't know the answer to.
I had no idea what was going tocome out of your mouth And so,
yeah, that was.
Shannon Cutts (33:15):
That was really really great to know And it's
very revealing because we haveour very analytical, very
logical reasons And you and Italked about that for why we
cook up these ideas Right, andsometimes they're great ideas
And sometimes we have thatconversation and we discover
they really are heart-centricideas or there really is a way
(33:36):
forward if that's really wanted.
But in many cases it's reallyjust a function of our
analytical, logical left brainlodging its way to a conclusion
We like okay.
Well, what is adding anotheranimal really going to add to
Layla's life?
to your life.
Is this the only way to createan environment where this
(33:58):
becomes possible?
And then just recognizing thatit's not all about making
sacrifices so that someone welove and have been working on
our relationship with sodiligently can have an enhanced
experience of life with us.
It's like maybe they don't wantthat either, right Right, or
maybe as one of my intuitiveteachers on your show, kett,
(34:20):
talks about how good can youstand it?
because sometimes we're notcomfortable with that level of
joy and bliss and closeness Andso we actually work against what
we're visioning for, so what wereally, really want, because
we're afraid that we can'thandle it.
There's just nothing in ourworldview and our frame of
(34:40):
reference that said it couldever get this guy.
I didn't vision it to be thisgood.
I was only seeing us get toabout C minus.
I was never thinking A plus,plus, and so when it comes we're
like, oh, let me just add alittle more chaos, let me just,
you know, back it up.
Karoline Edmonds (34:56):
It's a little bit of self-sacrifice, Yeah
absolutely.
Shannon Cutts (34:59):
One of the things that I'm continually just
floored by and very inspired byis the amount of brave that it
takes to have an authentic firstperson conversation with your
animal, and I remember the dayswhen I was hiring animal
communicators and I waited withbated breath to hear the answers
to questions like what do youthink are your food or is your
(35:20):
habitat okay?
And agonized when one of myreptiles said she wanted two
pools instead of one and thatwould have taken up her whole
habitat.
We have to recognize there areso many layers to a conversation
And yet it's a negotiation aswell.
So coming into an animalcommunication conversation, it's
easy to forget that we alreadyknow how to have conversations.
(35:42):
We're just a little bitunaccustomed to having a third
party translator present.
A lot of the fear factor forpeople can be.
Well, what if my animal saysthey don't like me or they don't
like something in theirenvironment or they don't want
something that I want, right.
Karoline Edmonds (35:59):
And you know, that's one of the things that I
thought about, because I'm veryopen about our relationship used
to really suck And I recognizeduring those times that I was
part of the problem.
I put a lot of pressure on us,i made a ton of mistakes And I
thought about that before oursession.
I was like I wonder if Layla'sgoing to say something about
like how she used to not like meeither.
(36:21):
It was kind of like a littlebit like I had to prepare myself
because if I had heard that, iwould have been very upset.
Even though it was in the past,i still I still would have been
upset.
So like I did have to kind ofprepare myself for that a little
bit, because I knew that itcould be a truth, like it could
come up And that's so importantto hear, especially if you are
(36:43):
listening right now or watching,and you have never had this
experience.
Shannon Cutts (36:46):
One thing I can share to that point is that I
have not found unless there's adirect question involved from
their person, I have not foundanimals to be too interested in
talking about what has happenedbefore.
Karoline Edmonds (36:59):
Right.
Shannon Cutts (36:59):
They're very present, focused.
And the other thing I can shareand I've had animals say things
pretty bluntly, and yet there'salways a note of kindness.
And I'm thinking of oneparticular client whose soul dog
passed and he was strugglingwith a lot of guilt about some
of his perceived shortcomings asa pet parent and some of the
(37:20):
things that he felt hadn't goneright at the time.
And when I talked with his souldog, what she said was you're
the kind of person that I wantedto spend my whole life with,
because when you know better,you do better, and that inspires
me.
You didn't know then, so ofcourse you weren't doing it, but
you understand now.
And that's why you're askingthese questions.
(37:41):
I'm getting goosebumps becauseI can feel it.
Karoline Edmonds (37:44):
I know I'm making me tear up a little bit
Yeah.
Shannon Cutts (37:48):
And just so.
Yes, there can be an awarenessof things that weren't perfect.
I have yet to even find anotherhuman relationship where I can
say, man, i nailed that one,like I did everything right.
But it's the way in which theanimal views how everything
unfolded, and so when they doshare, you almost are glad that
(38:10):
it didn't go well, because yougrow like the yeah, sniff, sniff
, like there's, like your heart,it's like oh, i'll never forget
that.
I will go to my deathbed and Iwill remember that conversation.
Karoline Edmonds (38:22):
Yeah, you had to have those tough times in
order to really grow, and thedefinition of love is to be able
to see who's really in theirpast.
Shannon Cutts (38:30):
At least this is my definition.
I don't know how everybodydefines it, but to be able to
see past the person or thebeing's limitations to the
essence of who they are.
And that captured how his souldog really saw him for who he is
, for his heart, not for hislearning curve, right.
And so that's an example, oneof many, of how animals will
(38:53):
respond.
if, in this particular case,there was a direct question
involved as well Are you mad atme because I didn't do fill in
the blanks?
I don't think that the dogwould have shared anything about
it.
it would have even beeninterested to discuss it if it
hadn't been for that directquestion.
So animal communication can beits own healing process when we
(39:15):
discover that there's more thanone way to see ourself and to
see our growth.
And there's beings in our lifewho willingly stay, who see us
in so much of a higher and moreunconditionally accepting place
than we see ourselves.
Karoline Edmonds (39:31):
Yeah.
Shannon Cutts (39:32):
That's why one of the reasons I'm so excited to
have you on the show, karen,let's talk to animals is because
I do feel like when the time isright to add these direct
conversations with our animalcompanions to the mix, we will
know, but I love that you wereso aware and you were trusting
yourself and that, even thoughthere was this fear factor thing
(39:53):
kind of going in, that you hadbuilt up enough self-trust
currency and that you were yousaid okay, now is a good time
Now is the right time, ratherthan just going up into the head
again and going well, does thismake logical sense?
Animal communication isn't aboutlogic.
You know logic our way there.
We heart our way there.
Yeah, And you've added so manyother experiences into your life
(40:17):
that you have really kind ofpaved the way for your own
intuition to have a bigger seatat the table as well.
Karoline Edmonds (40:24):
Yeah, This was a little bit of a treat for me,
you know, to do the animalcommunication session because,
like I said, we aren't in thetrenches, layla isn't going
through any kind of illnessright now, and so I think
typically like those are whenpeople come to do an animal
communication session.
Shannon Cutts (40:43):
Yeah, you must.
Karoline Edmonds (40:45):
Right, this is almost a little bit more like a
treat, like a fun thing andlike maybe a little bit
pervinative for us to just keepme on my toes and keep me aware
of things, to look out for,things, to appreciate.
I mean now, every time that Igo to post something, i
literally think about how Laylasaid that she loves being a
(41:06):
Canaan ambassador and being apart of something bigger, right?
So it brings up a lot of littlethings in our day to day life.
Now that just makes me smile.
Shannon Cutts (41:14):
It makes my day to hear it, because preventative
is it's what I'm all about And,as I'm developing courses and
new offerings for my clients whoare becoming students of animal
communication themselves, thatdream of doing myself out of a
job, because there's some atleast one person in every family
who can serve in that role forthe family as a whole, because
(41:37):
it is definitely possible And itis very much.
Just like you don't want to letanything stew with your partner
or your bestie or your boss oryour coworkers, we don't want to
let anything stew with our pets, we want to have that
preventative conversation andthat's a skill set in all and of
itself.
That would be a whole otherpodcast probably.
(41:57):
There are so many beings in ourlife where we can practice
being brave and discover that,far from it being worse than we
could imagine, it's better thanwe ever expected.
No, i really appreciate you'retaking the time to come on.
Let's talk to animals and sharea little bit more.
I share about what it was likefor you to have a session and to
be able to talk with Layla andshare some of the behind the
(42:20):
scenes of how you prepared andyour reasons and just
acknowledging you for being suchan open book and being willing
really to try everything thatoffers the promise of you and
Layla Knowing really how goodcan you stand this Right Totally
.
It sounds like it's gettingpretty darn good, Karoline.
(42:41):
we are at the point in our showwhere I've mentioned it here
and there throughout, but pleasetell us a little bit more about
how our listeners and viewerscan connect with you, especially
if they're feeling a littleisolated or a little overwhelmed
or eating that very untastysandwich we talked about and
some of the resources that youhave for them.
Karoline Edmonds (43:01):
Yeah, so you can find me on all social media.
At dogmommentality, i'mprimarily on Instagram, so if
you want to message me, that'sthe place to do it.
My website isdogmommentalitycom.
On there there are a line ofshirts that are inspired by
(43:22):
being an empowered dog owner.
There's little stories behindeach of the shirts, and then
there's also a journal.
So the journal comes in spiralor are hard bound.
It is comprised of fourdifferent sections and intention
setting section, a goal settingsection.
The actual beef of the journalis broken down into 10.
Common emotions dog owners facefrom frustration to bravery, to
(43:45):
anxiety alone, anything And sothey each have prompts with each
emotion, and so that guidedaspect of it really helps a lot
of people that are new tojournaling.
But it's all from the eyes of adog owner, so all of the
questions kind of relate back alittle bit to the situation that
you were going through withyour dog.
And then the last section ofthe journal is a wins tracker
(44:06):
for you to just write down allof your wins being in small.
And then the last place thatyou can find me is on Apple or
Spotify, wherever you listen topodcasts, for the
dogmommentality podcast.
Shannon Cutts (44:18):
I love this and I love the wins, because that
gratitude and it's also a way toreally take a look from where
you are now And it's like, yeah,maybe it's not perfect, maybe
there's a little tweak that wecould make here or there, maybe
a big tweak, but shoot, wow,we're getting to the point where
we are tweaking rather thanwell, that didn't come out right
, but you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, yeah, the minor things.
(44:41):
Yeah, it's not the big thingsExactly.
And if you're listening in oryou're watching and you're in
the big things thing, i can'tencourage you enough to connect
up with Karoline and hercommunity as well and just
really recognize that theanimals that we keep company
with are complex, highly evolved, intuitive and empathic beings.
(45:05):
And I truly, the more I do thiswork, the more I have come to
not just believe but experiencethat there are no accidents in
who we cross paths with.
So if you have been thinking toyourself, man, i wish there was
somebody I could talk with orjust vent to, or I just feel so
alone After this, a happy, notaccident, and an invitation to
(45:27):
step out of the isolating shameand the shadows and into a
supportive world of newfriendships where you can really
own that being partnered withany being of any species is a
pretty big deal.
Brave you, and let's get yousome support and some
encouragement so that youcontinue that journey not just
(45:50):
with a brave face but with abrave heart.
So, Karoline, thank you again.
I'll, of course, put all yourlinks in the show notes and the
link to the journal, but justabsolutely delighted to have had
a little window and a littlespot in your life with Layla
Princess Beauty is an absolutedelight.
I just adore her and what agift to meet you.
(46:10):
So thank you again.
And for those of you who arelistening or watching and you
have found let's talk to animalsout of all the podcast, and the
podcast just fear.
And you are listening for thefirst time, you're watching for
the first time.
Welcome, or so delighted tohave you.
The animal communication is nomore or less than having a hunch
or a vibe or an aha moment AndI invite you to continue your
(46:31):
journey with us.
We are releasing new episodesevery two weeks this year for
season four to give me a littlemore time to prepare and really
dive in deep.
You've got three amazingseasons before this one and feel
free to reach out either viayour favorite streaming service
or you can always find us overat animallovelinguagescom back
slash podcast and that can getyou wherever you need to go or
(46:54):
to reach out to me directly.
If that's your intention, i'dlove to hear from you.
So we'll be back with you intwo weeks for a fresh new
episode and sending you and yourinner species family all of our
love.
Okay, bye for now.
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